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Senior foreign and defence correspondent @POLITICOEurope https://xitter.cf/t.co/8QKRBXygK7
Joined March 2026
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I'm back on this website after a brief interruption. Sadly I wasn't able to recover my House of Lords content archive, but we'll have to make new memories 💖
Esther Webber retweeted
EXCL: Police are conducting a criminal investigation into a dispute connected to the founding of Your Party
Met Police received a report "relating to the alleged unauthorised access of a political party’s database"
A man in his 20s was recently arrested. Enquiries continue
🔎 Inside the British polling industry's moment of crisis
EXCL: The British Polling Council is struggling to punish firms who break their rules, in the wake of the Reform donations/polling scandal
In a transcript of a meeting leaked to POLITICO, officers admit their body is currently closer to a "bowling club" than a regulator.
w/ @estwebber @e_casalicchio
politico.eu/article/uk-polli…
Esther Webber retweeted
EXCL: The British Polling Council is struggling to punish firms who break their rules, in the wake of the Reform donations/polling scandal
In a transcript of a meeting leaked to POLITICO, officers admit their body is currently closer to a "bowling club" than a regulator.
w/ @estwebber @e_casalicchio
politico.eu/article/uk-polli…
Esther Webber retweeted
Andy Burnham’s industrial ambitions collide with reality in South Wales
Good dispatch here by @g_lanktree on Tata Steel sounding the alarm over the viability of its business .... just as the PM holds up a new electric arc furnace as a key bit of his reindustrialisation drive
⬇️
Esther Webber retweeted
EXCL: The government is planning to commit to a ban on "non-compete" clauses that are rife in high-flying tech and City workers' contracts
Ministers think they're a barrier to start-ups. Andy Burnham may announce tomorrow
But govt is set to stop short of confirming the details
Esther Webber retweeted
“Vile,” “horrible,” “betrayal,” “bastards,” “spivvery”
For top Tories, the hatred of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is v, v real
Kemi Badenoch said today she’d prefer a fresh election to a coalition.
No wonder. The hostility means a tie-up may not be practical even if she wanted it
Esther Webber retweeted
New: The Tories are considering not unveiling a major social care offer of their own, three shadow cabinet members tell us
Instead, they're banking on Andy Burnham’s proposals falling apart under the heat of scrutiny
“No policy is still a policy," said one
Esther Webber retweeted
The quick American withdrawal of its B1 bombers from the UK underscores a deeper distrust and frustration the Trump admin. has with British defense spending and policy. w/ @Masonboyowen @estwebber
politico.eu/article/b-1-bomb…
Esther Webber retweeted
🔴 NEW: Germany has held exploratory talks over joining Britain, Italy and Japan’s fighter jet program GCAP after the collapse of its FCAS fighter project with France.
Internal documents I’ve seen show London is now courting Berlin.
Here’s where things stand 🧵
Esther Webber retweeted
Here’s our read after dozens of convos and ministerial appearances in Liverpool:
AI legislation is firmly on the table, but AI Minister Kanishka Narayan has clear tests around effectiveness and capability for any interventions.
Esther Webber retweeted
EXC: Labour MSP Monica Lennon - who is set for a key role in new leader Michael Marra’s shadow cabinet - has been accused of bullying by multiple former members of staff
Concerns were raised when she returned to Holyrood following Anas Sarwar’s departure
scotsman.com/news/politics/h…
Esther Webber retweeted
New: Nigel Farage will use a speech in the Brexit-backing Labour heartland of Doncaster to start the fightback against Andy Burnham's reignition of the EU debate
Kind of in awe of the politician who looks at the UK's recent history of constitutional and attempted constitutional reform and goes yessss more of that pls
Esther Webber retweeted
🔴 UK PM Andy Burnham is preparing his first visit to Berlin since taking office, with talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz planned for early October
It comes as London seeks fresh momentum with Germany, including on defense
w/ @Masonboyowen & @estwebber
politico.eu/article/burnham-…
Esther Webber retweeted
Scoop: The White House has asked OpenAI and Anthropic not to share their AI models with the U.K. government’s testing agency until the models have gone through U.S. testing.
“Because they’re American companies and this has been our policy with every new frontier model that comes out,” the senior admin official told me.
WH wants this sequence: U.S. review -> secure U.S. systems -> share models with U.S. partners
Anthropic appears to have complied but OpenAI has not said if it will.
w/ @JoeBambridge1
politico.com/news/2026/09/24…
Esther Webber retweeted
EXCL - Andy Burnham asked Donald Trump to bring up Jimmy Lai’s case when he speaks to China’s Xi this week
By @DashaBurns me and @PhelimKine
politico.com/news/2026/09/22…
Esther Webber retweeted
One explosive scene from our @POLITICOMag cover story on 85 days that changed White House AI policy :
Dario Amodei offered to tutor Bessent on jailbreaks the day of export controls.
Amodei: “Would it be helpful for you to go into a little detail? I think we need to keep risks in perspective.”
Bessent: “Well, I don't think that's really necessary, Dario…”
Amodei tried again as the company believed the risks remained within the range it had previously described to the gov.
Bessent wasn't persuaded. The admin had believed Anthropic's self certification abt Fable. Now there was a problem.
“It’s not really helping your case when you're saying everything it does was expected,” Bessent told Amodei.
Amodei: “I think any decision to de-deploy Fable would basically set a precedent that models above a certain level of capability cannot be deployed commercially at all,”
Sean Cairncross cut him off. “Dario, what I need from you is: Anthropic, will you be closing off access to Fable or not?”
Amodei said he could not shut Fable down just an hour
Bessent: That is a bad decision.”
story w/ @cheyennehaslett
edited by @sissenberg
Esther Webber retweeted
NEW inside the relationship between Dan Jukes & JL Partners ⬇️
w/ @estwebber
EXCL: Farage aide Dan Jukes went on an all-expenses-paid trip to Egypt with pollster JL Partners in December 2025, weeks before the firm released high-impact polls without disclosing that they were financed by Reform.
w/@saschaosullivan
EXCL: Farage aide Dan Jukes went on an all-expenses-paid trip to Egypt with pollster JL Partners in December 2025, weeks before the firm released high-impact polls without disclosing that they were financed by Reform.
w/@saschaosullivan
Jukes joined a JL Partners staff retreat and gave a talk for the company, receiving travel, meals and accommodation.
Asked what a Reform government would want from a polling company, Jukes replied: “Showing that we’re winning”
politico.eu/article/reform-a…















